Comparison of the effects of dietary beef tallow and corn oil on pancreatic carcinogenesis in the hamster model.

We previously reported an enhancement of pancreatic carcinogenesis induced by N-nitrosobis(2-oxopropyl)amine (BOP) in hamsters fed diets containing high levels of corn oil. The research presented here compared diets high in corn oil with those high in beef tallow in the enhancement of pancreatic carcinogenesis. Pancreatic cancer was induced with 20 mg BOP/kg body wt, s.c. administered at 8 weeks of age. One week later, hamsters were assigned to one of five diet treatments: (i) 4.3% corn oil (control); (ii) 20.5% corn oil (high corn oil); (iii) 0.5% corn oil + 3.8% beef tallow (low beef tallow); (iv) 0.6% corn oil + 19.9% beef tallow (high beef tallow); and (v) 5.1% corn oil + 15.4% beef tallow (high fat mixture). These diets were fed until the study ended 84 weeks after BOP treatment. Hamsters were trained through pair feeding to consume the same calorie allotment as the control corn oil group. By the end of the experiment, BOP-treated hamsters that were fed diets containing beef tallow were consistently heavier than those fed corn oil. Survival was longer in hamsters fed the high-beef tallow and high-fat mixture compared with the other diet groups. Tumor data were age adjusted to correct for survival differences. Pancreatic adenoma incidence and multiplicity (no./effective animal) were higher in hamsters fed beef tallow than those fed corn oil diets. Carcinoma in situ multiplicity was elevated in hamsters fed high-fat diets irrespective of the nature of fat fed. Pancreatic adenocarcinoma multiplicity was elevated in hamsters fed the low- or high-beef tallow diets compared with the low- or high-corn oil diets. The mixture of fat resulted in an intermediate yield.